


Follow The Leader

by monoclejack



Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon (Main Video Game Series), Pocket Monsters: Ruby & Sapphire & Emerald | Pokemon Ruby Sapphire Emerald Versions, Pokemon Alpha Sapphire, Pokemon Omega Ruby
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-12-04
Updated: 2014-12-07
Packaged: 2018-02-28 03:00:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,536
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2716454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/monoclejack/pseuds/monoclejack
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A series of one shots that take place at different times in Maxie's life. Things he remembers, things he looks back on fondly, and things he would rather forget, as well as a few takes on present events.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Voltorb Flip

**Author's Note:**

> Hey all! Just a heads up that these one shots aren't made to actually connect, so they can be read in any order, and the order in which I post them is irrelevant.

Shot One

Voltorb Flip

            “How do you do that?” A teenage boy slammed his hand down on a game tabletop, clearly frustrated beyond what he was used to dealing with. “Do you have the whole board memorized or something? I’ve never seen anyone earn so many coins playing this stupid game in my life—”

            Maxie sat back in his chair at the Mauville Game Corner, crossing his arms and presenting the boy with an exaggerated eye roll.

            “No, I don’t have the board memorized… that’s not even possible. It’s completely randomized at the start of each game.... Well, actually, with the right calculations you could—”

            “Shut up. I don’t need a math lesson. You’re still cheating. This place should ban you from these games so the rest of us actually have a chance to win once in a while. _Psh_ …”

            Cheating? Of course he was cheating. But was it _really_ cheating? Honestly. He’d only done the math, figured out the way the game worked, and made it nearly impossible to lose. And then he’d only convinced people he wasn’t that great at it. And said people had fallen for it, losing their coins in the process. Coins Maxie then gained. But was it _really_ cheating? More like hustling. Hustling is definitely the correct term in such an instance.

            The disgruntled boy across the table was about the same age as him, perhaps a year or two older, and much larger.  He frequented the Game Corner, as did Maxie, when he could make it. Schoolwork always came first, but it was hardly much of a challenge.

            “Well, no, first of all. They wouldn’t ban me. I’m a regular. I spend money here. That’s _kind of_ the way things work. Second… it’s Voltorb Flip. It’s not that hard if you have half a working brain. The numbers on the sides literally _tell_ you how many Voltorb are in the row. It’s practically all laid out for you.”

            It’s hard being better than everyone else when it comes to math and science. It’s hard and no one understands. Maxie pushed his glasses up the bridge of his freckled nose, smirking. These Game Corner guys were all idiots. All of them. There wasn’t a single thing to be worried about. 

            “Do you even remember who you’re talking to?” The bothersome kid leaned in closer, and Maxie leaned back to keep his distance. Personal space. The guy didn’t smell very pleasant, to be sure, but he was way too close for comfort regardless. What was his name again? Darrel? Danny? Something like that. No one worth remembering. “You’re sittin’ there trying to call me an idiot… I’ll break your nose and smash those glasses with it!”

            “Unlikely.”

            There was a heavy silence between them as the upbeat and happy music played from the speakers overhead. Maxie glanced around at the colorful walls as he waited for Danny-Darrel to respond. They were decorated with large pictures of coins and happy Pikachu and Zigzagoon. His eyes fell on the prize list hanging over the coin exchange counter, and he contemplated what he wanted in exchange for his riches this time. Even if he just exchanged them for another expensive TM he couldn’t actually use, he could sell it like he did last time. And the time before that… and so on.

            This was nothing new.

            “Hey, kid! Are you even listening to me?”

            Maxie’s eyes snapped back to his tireless aggressor, bored. Oh. He’d been saying something after all.

            “No,” he replied flatly.

            The boy shot him a nasty glare, getting visibly riled up at the response he received. Highly immature.

            “Listen up, _kid_ , I—”

            “Hey!”

            From over at the main counter, an employee was staring them both down.

            “Cool it,” he warned, causing Danny-Darrel to back off. The kid huffed and puffed a bit before finally turning to walk away, and Maxie gathered up his things as well, ready to head out. He’d made more than enough game earnings in the few hours he’d been there, and it was time to trade in.

           Once he was up at the prize counter, he exchanged the majority of the coins he’d won for the TM Thunder. Oh _heck_ yes. He’d been saving up for that one for quite some time, and although it was quite useless to him, he knew it would fetch a hefty price from someone who actually needed it. All he had to do was set the price a tad lower than what one would pay in-store, and he had a deal every time. At thirteen, without any immediate expenses, the money went a long way… but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t haggle. After receiving his prize, he still had plenty of coins left over to pick something else out, but decided to save them for next time. Keeping them now meant he was already well on his way to another expensive prize, and by extension, his next paycheck.

           He was having too much fun. This “making money” business wasn’t as hard as everyone made it out to be. Other people might just be incompetent. So maybe he wasn’t the most honest thirteen-year-old at the Game Corner, but at least he was smart enough to make himself look it.

           “Seeya next week, Maxie!” The older gentleman behind the counter called out with a smile as Maxie turned to leave with a polite “thank you.” The staff loved him here. They always would. They knew him by name and he brought them business. He nodded back at the man, throwing his backpack over his shoulder and pushing his glasses up again on the way out. Of course they’d see him next week. He wouldn’t dream of not showing up.

           Outside, the weather was dreary. The late afternoon sky was a dull gray, and there were several puddles about, which Maxie was careful to avoid so as not to get his clothes dirty. His jeans and brown sweater were both new.  Birthday presents.

           He was more than ready to head home. There was a book he was dying to start, and a new magazine should have arrived for him while he was out. He hoped so. He’d just need to hop on his bike and head back to Fallarbor… a bit of a trip, but he liked it. It was quiet and it was a nice almost two hour bike ride he liked to use to think about things he didn’t usually talk about with friends… like volcanoes and how cool the insides were, and how they worked. He didn’t have too many friends to start with, let alone friends who would be willing to listen to him talk about volcanoes. But there was one.

          “Hey, kid!”

           Ugh. What an annoying sound. It was the voice of the bothersome boy from just a few minutes earlier, and while Maxie was half tempted to flat-out ignore it and just find his bike and leave, he turned around to face him anyway.

          “We’re practically the same age,” he said upon laying eyes on him.

          “Whatever. So are you gonna share some of those coins with me or not?” The boy took a step toward him, carrying himself in an aggressive stance. “You have more than enough to go around, so hand ‘em over!”

          “Uh, no?” Maxie squinted at him and went to work unlocking his bike from the bike rack, but it wasn’t long before he realized his front tire was completely flat. A chuckle from the boy watching him let him know exactly who did it, and he could feel his insides start to boil. He set his jaw and wheeled around to face him, more color in his cheeks than before. “You want me to just give you my coins? Oh, okay! Can you not earn your own? Are these games really that hard for you? Are you really that _stupid_?”

           The boy took a lunge at him and Maxie sidestepped it, still red in the face and shaking slightly. He took a deep breath, ready to launch into a string of carefully worded insults, when there was a low growling from behind him, followed by a prompt yap.

           The yaps continued, growing more determined, as a small Poochyena barreled its way forward, drawing attention to itself as if wanting to appear much bigger than it actually was. It advanced on the boy until he started feel uncomfortable, and then kept barking and growling until he finally turned and hurried away.

           “Awright, jeez, fine,” he could be heard mumbling as he took off, leaving Maxie and the Poochyena behind. He couldn’t help but smile when he heard a familiar voice next to him, but he quickly wiped the smile away.

           “Yeah, that’s right, get goin’ and stay gone!”

            It was Archie.

            The only friend he could talk about volcanoes and mountains with until he had nothing more to say on the matter. The only one who would actually sit long enough to get to that point.

            Archie was bigger than Maxie, though not really older (he would say he was because he was born a few months before, and he’d never let him forget it, either), and he was currently kneeling on the concrete next to his bike, laughing and smiling as he scratched his Poochyena behind the ears and gave it a noisy kiss on the nose. His dark brown hair was wavy and getting long enough to get in his eyes a little, but he was known to refuse haircuts regularly, unlike Maxie, who always wanted his fiery hair to look as nice as it could. Looking up at Maxie, Archie smiled wide, revealing a bit of a gap between his two front teeth.

            “You okay, Maxie? Your face is as red as your hair!”

            And so the laughing continued, and Maxie waited patiently for him to stop before answering.

            “I’m fine,” he replied. “I didn’t really need any help. That guy was nothing.”

            “Yeah, yeah! I’m sure you were fine. Really I just wanted to show you how good my Poochyena is getting at growling. See?” Still on the ground, Archie growled at his Poochyena and eagerly waited for it to growl back, and when it did, he looked up at Maxie expectantly. “Didja hear that? That’s not even just a growl. That’s like… like we’re on our way to howling or even roaring! The little guy is growin’ up!”

            “Yeah… neat.”

            “Hey, where’s your Pooch? You probably coulda scared that guy off too if you tried!”

            Maxie’s thoughts darted to the pokeball in his backpack, and then quickly back to the matter at hand. The two of them didn’t get along very well.

            “She’s tired,” he lied. “Anyway… I was just heading home—”

            “Already?! Aw, man. I just got here. School stuff took forever today. How much didja win while I was gone?”

            “Enough,” Maxie answered, letting slip a bit of a grin. “But yeah. I was headed home. I came out to get my bike and that guy flattened my front tire because I made him mad, so… I better start walking if I want to make it back before dark.”

            “What?! No way, that’s lame,” Archie said, standing up straight and squinting into the distance as if he’d still be able to find the guy he scared off. “What a loser. Hey—Maxie. Walking all the way home would suck. Take my bike. I’ll walk home… I’m a lot closer. I’ll take your bike with me and I’ll see if maybe my dad can fix it up for you and we’ll just trade next time we see each other, okay?”

            “…Oh.” That was a very nice thing to offer. It’s true, Archie’s family lived much closer than Maxie’s did… they were in Slateport, just a town away, and it probably wouldn’t be long before they saw each other again, considering their families were quite fond of each other. “Are you sure?”

            “’Course I’m sure. I wouldn’ta said it if I wasn’t already sure.”

            Maxie nodded, taking hold of Archie’s bike and climbing onto it. He scribbled his lock combination onto a piece of scrap paper he dug out of his bag and handed it to his friend so he could actually retrieve the useless bike later when he needed to, and then kicked up the kickstand.

            “Hey… thanks.” He started to ride away, but quickly stopped, offering a smile for real this time. “Oh, and if you’re gonna play Flip… don’t test your luck on the fourth row until you absolutely have to.”


	2. Jagged Pass

Shot Two

Jagged Pass 

            The air smelled of smoke and ash and the dimly lit path was tricky to navigate while Maxie and Poochyena made their way to the halfway point down Jagged Pass. They’d started the day bright and early with a trip to the top of Mt. Chimney, in which Maxie mainly had intentions to sight see, but, the best laid plans often go astray. Astray, as in, he could almost never go anywhere without wandering off for some sort of field work.

            Well… it wasn’t actually field work. He wasn’t receiving a grade, nor was he being paid. He just wanted to study the formations in the Pass, and take notes on the rock layers in the cliff walls and the types of dirt that made up the ground. There was always something new to learn, and he couldn’t count the times he’d walked through the Jagged Pass with his mother growing up with no time to pay attention to that sort of thing. Father was much more invested in the sciences behind things, but the last time they went out together, Maxie hadn’t gotten to actually study for himself, and that made all the difference. He was eighteen and about to head off to college, so he figured he should squeeze in as much time as he could studying the areas close to home.

            “The ground here is soft when it’s separate from the rock face,” he said aloud, talking to himself as much as he was talking to Poochyena. “It’s interesting. The grass grows healthy here, even when the soil is mixed with ash and the sunlight doesn’t always reach it. The air is thick with smoke and it doesn’t normally rain, and still, life is everywhere. It’s determined.”

            Just as he was taking a step down a steep drop in the path, he noticed Poochyena wasn’t following him anymore, and he quickly grew annoyed. The sigh that escaped him turned into a frustrated groan, and he backtracked a few steps to see if could find her. He trekked through some grass, covering his boots in ash, and found her standing between some trees, growling at a nearby Machop who seemed to be practicing its rock smashing abilities on… something.

            “Hey, we aren’t battling right now, we’re walking,” he called out. “Come on, it didn’t do anything to you.”

            But Poochyena didn’t move.

            “I’ll put you back in your pokéball, I swear it. Don’t test me.”

            Not amused, he put his pen between his teeth and stuffed the notebook he was carrying away in his backpack. With another smooth motion, he pulled his hair back and tied it up and away from his face. She almost never listened. When she did, it was a rare occurrence. She had a stubborn nature about her, and once Maxie decided he didn’t particularly like her, she decided she didn’t particularly like him either. It had been that way for years. Every once in a while he’d think back to the time they attempted a gym battle together and his face would redden. He’d probably never show his face around Rustboro again. She just wasn’t Bones. She never would be. Not to mention there was the embarrassing fact that Archie’s Poochyena had evolved a year ago. A whole year. Maxie was sure his was just keeping herself from evolving solely to spite him.

            “Fine, have it your way. The pokéball is coming out,” he said, voice muffled as he talked with the pen still in his mouth. He reached into his bag and grabbed her pokéball, holding it in his hand as threateningly as he could manage while depositing the pen in the bag at last. “One… two…”

            But before he could finish counting, there was a rustling in the grass around the trees where Machop stood, and the Pokémon it was practicing its moves on revealed itself. Maxie immediately narrowed his eyes, wondering if he was actually seeing what he thought he was seeing, and took several hurried—and stumbled—steps forward.

            It was a Numel.

            His eyes darted to Poochyena and then back to Machop and Numel. He’d been looking for a Numel in the wild for the longest time… they were so shy, and he could never find one because they were always hiding, asleep. This one was hurt, and he found himself angry at the Machop for using it as target practice.

            “Hey you, stop that!” he yelled, attempting to sound tough and failing spectacularly. Regardless, the Machop turned to face him instead, and he grimaced a bit as he realized he wasn’t sure exactly what he was planning to do. Archie was good with this stuff… what would he do? Mm, right.  He’d be aggressive about it. “Ehh… Poochyena, get him! Use bite!”

            Poochyena continued to growl, lowering her head and planting her paws firm on the dusty ground.

            “I didn’t say growl at it, I want you to bite it!”

            But the growling kept going, getting lower and lower, until finally, Poochyena let loose a sound he’d never heard her make before, leaping forward and roaring at Machop, not relenting until it ran off. The poor Numel looked just as scared, but it was in no shape to run off even if it wanted to. With Machop out of sight, Maxie ran to Numel’s side, nearly tripping along the way, and knelt down beside it, placing a gentle hand on its back. It was still warm, so that was good.

            But he was ill prepared. He had no potions on him… no way to help it or keep it safe… unless he just caught it. He dug a spare pokéball out of his bag, tossing it up in the air and catching it again, looking down at the poor thing with worry etched into his features. Despite the seriousness of the situation, he couldn’t help but feel a little giddy at the same time. A Numel! An actual living volcano on four legs, and it was charming to boot.

            “Do you want to come with me?” he asked, as if expecting an actual response. The Numel stared up at him and made a pitiful noise, and Maxie felt his heart get heavy. He stood up and straightened his glasses, which had gotten a bit skewed on the frantic run over, and put his hands on his hips. “Alright then, that settles it. You’re coming along.”

            So he took a few steps back, pushing a few loose strands of hair out of his face that had come out of the hair tie, ready to toss the pokéball and make his first actual catch… but as luck would have it, the ground behind him was unstable, and he found himself slipping on the crumbling ledge instead.

            He knew he was going over backwards. It was inevitable, and he wasn’t even sure how far the drop was. His stomach did a flip as he started to fall, but he tossed the pokéball anyway, hearing it open and click closed as he hit the ground with a thud—and a painful crack in his ankle. He looked up once he’d landed, a few stars dancing in his field of vision, and thankfully the drop looked to be only six feet or so, but the pain in his ankle screamed that he wasn’t going anywhere anytime soon.

            “Dammit,” he hissed, taking a look at his leg with gritted teeth. The ankle was already swelling, and he had a nice sized scrape all along his shin from where his skin had grazed the rocks when he’d slipped. Mom always told him to wear jeans when he went places like this, but it was too hot for that. His leg was starting to bleed, and he was quite stuck. He could see the exit to Lavaridge Town from where he currently sat, but it was still quite a haul, especially with what appeared to be—and felt like— a broken ankle. “Poochyena? Are you still up there?”

            There was a small bark in answer, and she peeked over the edge of the crumbled ledge, holding a pokéball in her mouth. Her little legs wouldn’t stop fidgeting; it was as if she was afraid the ground might give way again, and she didn’t feel safe standing on it.

            “Can you find a way down? Can you get to me?”

            She did what looked to Maxie like a few frantic circles before running off, and he could hear her rustling through the grass and brush trying to find a safe path. Once she found one, she quickly jumped down several much smaller ledges, and ended up at his side, dropping the pokéball next to him.

            It was occupied. He’d done it… he’d actually captured Numel in spite of it all, and a small smile made its home on his lips. Now it looked like they were both in need of medical attention, and he didn’t want to put the pokéball away. He wanted to hold onto it. He was proud of it.

            “Well… it looks like we’re stuck for a while,” he said, quiet. He gave Poochyena a few scratches and soft pets down the back, sighing. “You did well, though. Even if you didn’t _technically_ do as I asked.”

            She yapped in response, standing and nudging his arm with her nose, and then pushing against his side with her head. She was pushing hard enough that he might actually tip over if he wasn’t holding his ground, and he narrowed his eyes at her. It was almost like she was trying to move him. She bit down on the leg of his shorts, pulling with little determined growls.

            “What are you— Are you trying to move me?” He couldn’t help but laugh, but she continued to try. “You’re too small for that. Big dreams, though. We have that in common, at least.”

            But, much to Maxie’s surprise, as she continued to push and pull at him, she started to emit a faint glow. Within a few seconds, it was nearly blinding and he had to partially shield his eyes, but there was no way he wouldn’t still watch—she was evolving. His mouth was slightly open as she grew, larger and larger, until the form of light was taller than he was while sitting, and he was at a loss for words. When the light faded, she was magnificent, a fully grown Mightyena more than three feet tall standing over him, and without hesitation, she nuzzled her way under his arm, urging him to climb onto her back in her own way. She was just big enough, and though he wasn’t exactly heavy, it would still be a challenge for her to get him all the way to Lavaridge. But… she was always stubborn and strong-willed.

            As she started to make her way to the Pass exit with Maxie in tow, he planted his face in the wild fur on the back of her neck.

            “You did that for me, didn’t you?”

            There was no response. He didn’t need one.


	3. Déjà Vu

Shot Three

Déjà Vu

            On the first of October, Maxie was stirring in his sleep, beginning to wake up just as the light started to filter in through his bedroom window. Bones, a Houndoom who had been alive for more than twice as long as Maxie himself, lay on the bed with him, curled around him protectively. It was pleasant. He always warmed the covers up naturally, and Mama said he was excellent at keeping bad dreams away. Maxie didn’t have bad dreams very often. Maybe it was actually Bones’ doing, or maybe he just wanted to believe. He was a big, fiery protector—just as tall as him. Granted, there are many things the same height as the average ten-year-old boy, but it never stopped being incredible from his point of view.

            Presently, Maxie was sitting up, rubbing his eyes with the yawn to conquer all yawns, and as soon as he had his wits about him, he fumbled for his glasses, shoved them onto his face, and dove across the bed to look out the window at the yard, startling Bones in the process. What he saw there was what he’d been waiting to see for weeks on end; he’d gotten up every morning to check, and every morning he’d been disappointed, until today. He let out an unrestrained gasp, smiling from ear to ear as he knelt on the bed in front of the window in his hideous Tropius patterned pajamas, hardly able to believe what he was seeing.

            The ground was covered in a light coating of gray ash, and it was still falling like snow as far as he could see. He’d learned in school that scientists around Hoenn were predicting Mt. Chimney would act up again soon, and there it was… He practically flew off his bed, knocking over a decent-sized stuffed Numel in the process, and yanked open the drawers on his dresser, trying desperately to find something, anything, to go outside in. Oh, man, science was _so_ cool. His bedroom walls and ceiling were decorated with glow-in-the dark stars and planets he’d stuck absolutely _everywhere_ , along with posters of all the coolest looking mountains and rock formations he could find, and there was a model of Mt. Chimney on his desk that he made with his dad for a science show at the end of the previous school year. He’d even drawn little Pokémon on note cards and cut them out and stood them up where they could actually be found in the real-life volcanic environment. One day he’d get an actual model, with actual Pokémon figures that he could paint and put where he pleased.... One day.  

            Once Maxie was dressed in his shorts and plain black t-shirt (so it wouldn’t stain and mama wouldn’t be angry with him), he bolted out of the room, Bones running at his side. In the living room he found his mother staring out the window, a small smile on her lips and her dark red hair tied back and tossed over her shoulder. She knew how excited he would be; she probably heard him thumping around down the hall and was waiting for him make an appearance.

            “Hungry?” she asked jokingly, already knowing what his response would be.

            “Nope!”

            He scurried around the living room in a flurry of red bed head and mismatched socks, looking for sample bottles and bags and labels, and trying to find where he left his shoes. Finally remembering he left them by the door where they were supposed to be, he tumbled over onto the floor to start putting them on.

            “You’re just like your dad. He left this morning before the sun came up when he realized the ash was falling again. What am I going to do with you two? Max, your socks don’t even match—”

            “Maxie!” he corrected cheerfully, double knotting his shoe laces. “It’s not like it matters, I’m just gonna go collect samples…”

            “You’re collecting samples? What for?”

            “I dunno, just to have them. I’m gonna study ‘em.”

            “Oh, I see... Well make sure you keep them nice and professional!” Mama was always so supportive. Her field of expertise was Pokémon evolution, not land studies, but that didn’t change the fact that everything Maxie ever took an interest in, she tried her hardest to be interested in it as well, just so she could be excited with him. “Remember what your dad said. Keep the samples from different areas separate and make sure you label them neatly!”

            “Got it!”

            “Maxie!”

            Maxie was already up and about to head out the door when she stopped him again, and even as she was speaking, he was slowly inching his way out the door.

            “Don’t stay out there too long, okay? That ash isn’t good for you to be breathing in all the time. And take Bones with you, especially if you’re planning on going out onto Route 113. You’re not going alone, and he was made for this weather!”

            “Okay, okay, come on Bones! Let’s go!”

            “Please be careful!”

            “I will!”

            “Bring back lots of samples for me!”

            “Mhm!”

            And with that, he was out the door without a second thought. Bones was trotting along beside him, and Maxie was holding on tight to his science supplies, carefully peeking at all of them as he walked, making sure he had everything he needed. The ash landing on Bones as they walked stood out stark white against his black fur, and Maxie couldn’t help but stare, slightly open-mouthed, at the way everything looked in town. Something like this might have been a bit frightening to a child who didn’t share the same love of volcanoes as he did. A volcano acting up so close to home was certainly a cause for concern among most, but he knew from growing up in Fallarbor that Mt. Chimney could never act up enough to put him in harm’s way. Everyone there was at peace, and when the ash started to fall, it was something special that brought the town together.

            As quickly as he could manage, Maxie headed toward one of the only two roads out of town and onto Route 113, where the ash was beginning to fall even heavier than it was at his house. The grass was entirely coated here, and he could see other trainers and their Pokémon exploring as well. Everyone always had the same idea… Once he’d made it a good enough distance from home, he plopped down in some particularly ashy grass, immediately getting it all over his clothes. He couldn’t care less about the state of his outfit, really. All he wanted to do was collect his ash samples.

            And so he did. He moved from spot to spot, Bones close behind, sitting down in each new place and collecting as much as he could, until all his bags and vials were full. What he didn’t realize, and what honestly didn’t matter at age ten, was that all the samples were exactly the same. There wasn’t a single thing different about any of them. It was all the same ash, but that was okay. He’d study it all anyway. He knew as soon as he finished collecting it all that he needed to head back inside, but… there were more pressing matters at hand. Like wrestling with Bones in the grass.

            Thirty minutes later, both of them were covered head to toe (or paw) in the ash and happily headed back home. It was as if mama knew… she was waiting by the front window, and immediately rushed to the door to meet them when they arrived.

            “Maxie…” she put her hands over her face, peeking out at him through her fingers. “You’re absolutely filthy.”

            “I know!”

            He sounded so happy about it. She couldn’t exactly be angry at him, but as he traipsed inside and deposited all his ash-covered supplies on the kitchen counter, she winced. He was leaving ash in the carpet. And on the tile. Oh— the couch. She quickly stopped him from doing any more roaming around, grabbing one of his arms.

            “Let’s not get it everywhere, okay? You need to head upstairs and get in the bath—don’t touch anything on the way. No hands on the walls. Just walk _straight up there_.”

            He nodded silently just as Bones decided it was the perfect time to shake, sending ash all over the nearby bookshelf and sneezing, singeing the rug. Maxie thought mama might start to cry, so while she was preoccupied with Bones, he snuck away and ran off up the stairs to the bath.

            After he’d gone, mama spent a good two minutes staring at the mess he’d left behind, at the bags of ash on the counter, and at the slightly burnt rug, wondering where she was going to begin. Before she could start, the door opened again and her husband walked through, looking just as excited as her son had. He cheerfully said hello, walked into the kitchen, and dropped his things off on the counter before turning around to face her again.

            “It’s amazing out there,” he said, running a hand absentmindedly through his light hair and sending ash falling. “Beautiful. Is something wrong?”

            “I’m having déjà vu,” mama replied, walking over to him. She wiped some ash off the front of his shirt, dirtying her hands in the process, and then smeared it on his cheeks before planting a kiss on the tip of his nose. “I’d swear you just walked in here five minutes ago.”

           


End file.
